Edmond Dantes, at the end of his journey, is not found in the situation he previously intended for himself. Instead, after failing to achieve his initial goals, he is found in a new relationship with Haydee. In The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas shows, through Dantes’ journey, that a person’s efforts do not always deal the intended outcomes, and often cause unintended consequences. Dantes is faced with a tragedy that ruins the prosperous life he had with his love, Mercedes. During his time in prison, he is taught much about life by a priest named Abbe Faria.

He also leaves him a vast fortune located on the island of Monte Cristo (from which he assumes the name of his alter ego, the Count of Monte Cristo). Unintentionally, Faria sparked the desire in Dantes for vengeance. Dantes believes that if justice is exacted on those who wronged him, than he can return to the life he had with Mercedes. Faria told him he regrets what he has taught Dantes, and when Dantes questions it, he replies, “Because it has instilled a new passion in your heart-that of vengeance” (Count of Monte Cristo, p. 194). Faria is a brilliant man, yet his did not mean to create this desire for vengeance in Dantes.

Through this situation, Dumas shows the reader that actions often deal unintended consequences. This foreshadows the future actions of Dantes that go without the aspired outcomes. When Faria dies, Dantes loses the only person left in his life, and thus becomes a cold shell of the man he used to be. It is said that “Dantes loses the capacity to feel any emotion other than hatred for those who have harmed him and gratitude toward those who have tried to help him” (SparkNotes). Dantes is left with a void in his life, and looks to recreate the past in which he was happy to fill it.

Dantes, in his effort to bring him back with the woman he loved, takes vengeance upon his wrongdoers, one of them being Danglars. He takes all his money from him as a result of Danglars’ own pride, and due to massive debt, Danglars attempts to run away from the situation. He is jailed and starved, only being sold food for unreasonably high prices. Danglars finally admits to regretting his terrible ways as Dantes reveals himself. He has gone through a truly awful situation, a great form of vengeance, yet Dantes does not feel the pride in his actions that he intended to feel.

He thought that he could take justice into his own hands, not realizing that it would not bring him to the happiness he once knew. He later claims in a letter to Maxamilian that he “thought himself, for an instant, equal to God; but who now acknowledges, with Christian humility, that God alone possesses supreme power and infinite wisdom” (Count of Monte Cristo, p. 1461). He realizes that he could not achieve his happiness by dealing justice in others, and that God was the only one who could do such a thing.

Also, because he cause Danglars to lose all of his money, he inadvertently caused the loss of a love in Madame Danglars, whose lover, Lucien Debary, only wanted her for Danglars’ money. However, due to his god complex, he felt as if her misfortunes were deserved, and thus had no sympathy for her. It is said that “His claim to represent a higher justice seems to justify actions and inactions that are as morally reprehensible as those that sent him to prison” (Schirf). Dumas shows through these conflicts that actions, such as Dante’s, do not always deal the wanted feelings, and can hurt those who do not necessarily deserve it.

Another of Dante’s wrongdoers was Fernand Mondego. Fernand had married Mercedes when Dantes was in prison, so Dantes takes vengeance upon him in hopes that he will get his lover back. He wins back Mercedes and her son complies, both realizing the treachery that Fernand did to achieve his wealth. Fernand comes to Dantes’ home, challenging him to a duel only if he is told what Dantes true identity is. Dantes tells him, and Fernand runs to his house, only to find his wife and son leaving forever. In his remorse, he kills himself. Dantes later finds this regretful, as it ultimately did not find him any joy.

He speaks to Maximilian in a letter, saying, “There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness”(Count of Monte Cristo, p. 1461). Dantes at this point has realized that his intentions could not bring him what he wanted, and that the happiness from his previous life was unattainable through these acts of vengeance. This, however, he began to understand when it was too late. Dumas is showing the reader that though the intentions might be in good favor, the outcome can often turn out negative.

Dantes had much love for Mercedes before they were separated, and held onto that love throughout his time in prison. When he returned to exact vengeance upon his wrongdoers, he believed that if he did so he could return to the life he once had. Part of this life was being together with his true love, Mercedes. However, as he reunites with Mercedes, he finds that he no longer loves her. He claims that she has changed, when it is actually he who sees her differently. He says, “Mercedes is dead, madame… I know no one now of that name” (Count of Monte Cristo, p. 182) Instead, Dantes learns to love again with the girl he watched grow into a woman, Haydee, whose freedom he purchased years ago. Dumas is showing the reader that Dantes could not return to the past, no matter what his intentions may have been. Not all desires are able to be met, thus Dantes must accept that he must face the future if he wishes to find happiness once again. Dantes enacts his form of vengeance against Villefort by focusing on his fatal flaw, just as he did with Danglars. He aims to shame Villefort, and ultimately succeeds. He brings forth the case of Villefort’s son, who years ago Villefort attempted to bury alive.

The boy was instead dug up and raised as an adopted child. Given that he had already been publically shamed, Villefort pleaded guilty. He returns home, regretting that he told his wife to kill herself. He enters to find that she had killed herself, along with her innocent son. Villefort has gone insane, and upon Dantes finding the two dead, he finds himself in disgust. Dumas writes, “He felt he had passed beyond the bounds of vengeance, and that he could no longer say, “God is for and with me”” (Count of Monte Cristo, p. 1403) Dumas shows that in this, Dantes did not achieve the feeling of joy after this act of vengeance as he hoped to.

Also, Dumas expresses the idea that actions can create unintended consequences through the anguish Dantes expresses at the death of the innocent son. Dantes is unable to return to the life he once had, and through the course of the novel, he learns to accept that. Earlier in his journey, Dantes claimed, “I wish to be providence myself, for I feel that the most beautiful, noblest, most sublime thing in the world, is to recompense and punish” (Count of Monte Cristo, p. 664). Dantes wished to get whatever he pleased by exercising the divine rights he gave himself, not realizing that ot all efforts deliver the wanted outcomes. Dumas shows this and allows his character to learn it towards the end of Dantes’ journey. It is obvious that Dantes has learned this because he writes to Maximilian and in his letter explains this idea. In the last lines, Dantes says, “God will deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is contained in these two words,-“Wait and hope”” (Count of Monte Cristo, p. 1462). Dumas is essentially telling the reader one of the novel’s themes: that a person’s actions can lead to unintended consequences, and often to not deal the intended outcomes.

Dumas does an excellent job portraying his theme to the reader, just as his main character begins to understand it as well. Edmond Dantes embarks on a long journey after his life is taken from him. He escapes prison and returns to the place where he used to live, in attempt to regain the life he once had. Dantes believed that vengeance was the answer to his problems, and that if he were to deal justice upon those who deserved it, than he would regain his old life, including his one true love.

Through the course of his actions, however, Dantes learns that his actions do not cause the outcomes he had hoped for. He also learns that his actions can cause unintended consequences, harming those who did not deserve it. These are the ideas that Alexandre Dumas was portraying in his novel, showing it to the reader to the actions of his main character. Dumas effectively used his character to show the reader how a person’s actions to do not always deal the intended outcome, and how those actions often can cause unintended consequences.

Author: Brandon Johnson

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